When you upgrade to Enterprise, QuickBooks Desktop’s most comprehensive plan, you’ll gain access to advanced inventory features, including barcode scanning and serial number tracking. QuickBooks Online wins for pricing because it’s essentially more affordable than QuickBooks Enterprise. For instance, if you have five members, you can purchase the Plus plan for only $90 monthly, whereas with Enterprise, you need to pay $427 monthly for five users. At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don’t guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services. For many small-business owners, most of the time, QuickBooks Online works better than QuickBooks Desktop.
- Banking services provided by our partner, Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC.
- For $1,922 per year, get the Enterprise plan with advanced pricing, reporting and inventory.
- If you purchased a Desktop Pro plan in 2021, your software will still work until 2024—but new customers who bought the 2022 software version can only choose annual subscriptions.
- Strictly based on ease of use and basic functionality, QuickBooks Online is an easier-to-adopt option that can handle small business accounting needs well.
- With QuickBooks Desktop, users receive some of the most developed accounting tools on the market.
Not sure which QuickBooks Online plan you need? We can help.
Another notable difference between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop is their integration capabilities. QuickBooks Online integrates with over 750 third-party apps, and we highlighted the most notable integrations in our guide to the best QuickBooks Online integrations for small businesses. Additionally, all versions of QuickBooks Desktop allow you to set up cost estimates for projects and then compare them to actual expenses. In contrast, you need to upgrade to Advanced to be able to use QuickBooks Online’s budget vs. actual reporting feature. QuickBooks Online wins because it offers more professional-looking and customizable invoices than QuickBooks Desktop. In fact, it recently upgraded its invoicing tool where you can now see the final look of your invoice as you complete the invoicing form.
Pricing
Seeing as it’s a program installed on your local system, it relies on the device’s processing power and resources. With larger datasets or complex operations, QuickBooks Desktop might utilize more local processing power compared to the online version. Zapier is a no-code automation tool that lets you connect your apps into automated workflows, so that every person and every business can move forward at growth speed. QuickBooks Desktop can feel rigid and resistant to modification or integration—the same way Apple products and iOS felt rigid back when everyone had overheating, self-cooking Android phones.
With QuickBooks Online, you also get the latest security capabilities. Know that your data shareholder vs stakeholder is protected without downloading and installing product updates. You don’t have to worry about losing everything in a fire or an unforeseen event. Another notable difference is QuickBooks Online offers a Self-Employed version for $15 per month, which is not available with QuickBooks Desktop. If you’re a freelancer, stick with its Self-Employed plan, which is $15 per month 9after the three-month discount at $7.50).
QuickBooks Online is cheaper than QuickBooks Desktop if you need multiple users. For instance, QuickBooks Online Plus only costs $99 per month ($1,080 per year) for up to five users as opposed to Desktop Enterprise, which costs $1,481 per year for only one user. Yes, but the only option is QuickBooks Enterprise, as Pro and Premier will no longer be available for new users after July 31, 2024. However, existing Pro and Premier users can still renew their subscriptions. In addition to third-party integrations, QuickBooks Online integrates with native products, such as QuickBooks Payments, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets). QuickBooks Desktop can be integrated with QuickBooks Desktop Payroll and QuickBooks Time.
QuickBooks Online Accountant
At the time of our last review, pricing started at $349.99/year for a single user. Join the thousands of people like you already growing their businesses and knowledge with our team of experts. We deliver timely updates, interesting insights, and exclusive promos to your inbox. Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop are designed to handle small business’s bandwidth and needs. Strictly based on ease of use and basic functionality, QuickBooks Online is an easier-to-adopt option that can handle small business accounting needs well. QuickBooks Online is optimized to be as user-friendly as possible and very easy to navigate.
QuickBooks Online is faster, lighter, and uses less processing power than QuickBooks Desktop
Alternatively, you can hire a QuickBooks ProAdvisor to help with your bookkeeping needs. To help you get started, we prepared a guide on how to find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Meanwhile, if you or your accountant want to become a ProAdvisor to demonstrate expertise in QuickBooks, read our article on how to become a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
However, once you’ve signed up, navigate to your account settings, and you can switch to annual billing to save 10%. All Online plans include receipt capture, QuickBooks support and more than 650 app integrations with apps such as PayPal, Square and Shopify. For $1,922 per year, get the Enterprise plan with advanced pricing, reporting and inventory. The higher your plan tier, the more reports and users you can add, although it’s important to understand concurrent users are each sold separately.